


Visions of Bodie and Doyle: Never (very) far apart.

by shooting2kill



Category: The Professionals
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-14
Updated: 2019-07-14
Packaged: 2020-06-24 22:01:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19732639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shooting2kill/pseuds/shooting2kill





	Visions of Bodie and Doyle: Never (very) far apart.

  


|  _Bodie followed Doyle up the stairs... the way he always did. He didn’t think about it too deeply. He just knew the position he preferred to take._  
_This time, however, Doyle stopped abruptly and turned to face him... “Is there something you want?”_  
_Bodie blinked. “What?”_  
_“You’re staring again.”_  
_“No, I’m not,” said Bodie, automatically._  
_“Yeah, you were.”_  
_“I have no idea what you’re talking about...”_  
_Doyle leaned on the railing with an air of patently calculated ease, his hip canted, and his other hand on his waist. “I wonder how you’d like a taste of it yourself.”_  
_“A taste of what?”_  
_“How do they say it? What’s good for the goose is good for the gander?”_  
_“It’s sauce for the goose. And I know exactly which of us is the gander...”_  
_[ May Day Run:Rebelcat ](https://discoveredinalj.livejournal.com/34859.html)_  
---|---  
| _Magnets. The thought jumped into his mind. He and Ray were like the magnets that had held such fascination for him as a child.... he would gently tap them, nudging them toward one another until the moment of magic would happen and they'd slide together. But that didn't happen all the time. Sometimes he would urge them closer and closer; until quite arbitrarily, or so he thought at the time, they would refuse to move any closer. Putting a finger on each magnet he had pushed at them, but there had been a force pushing them apart. He felt the echo of that tingling force sometimes when he was around Doyle. It was usually at the end of an op, after they had acted as a single unit. They would move closer and closer, but the same force that pushed those magnets apart did the same to them... Magnets. Bodie didn't have to wonder, he trusted the attraction. Tonight they were aligned.[ Night Before the World Ends:Lezlie Conch  ](http://www.thecircuitarchive.com/tca/archive/5/nightbefore.html)_  
|  _...he'd have followed his da anywhere, through fire or hail or over the top of a volcano, across the vast oceans in a dinghy or crawling through a swamp on his knees, if only he'd come back and crooked his finger. And he followed Doyle like that, like nobody else he'd ever known in all his varied life. Whether Doyle crooked his finger or not, he'd follow. Didn't always agree with Doyle, naturally; but that's not what it was about. Doyle wasn't Cowley or his old SAS colonel or that first captain who'd set him on the right path, the rough, hard, narrow path that'd helped keep him safe all these years in the worst of circumstances. Doyle kept him safe in all the unplumbed areas he'd ignored through the years: the emotional parts of him that still secretly longed for his dead father and his mother's equally dead laughter; witless childish desires he'd done away with long ago. Only not, apparently, as permanently and successfully as he'd thought..._  
_[ Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying:Istia](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18979060)_  
|  _“He's doing it deliberately,” said Bodie... “He's got to be.”_  
_He followed his partner up the steps into the building. The corridors were dark and deserted at that time of night, apart from old Fred Williams on the front desk, who waved them through._  
_“Sends us home, only to haul us back here two hours later,” Bodie continued in hushed tones. “Every time we get a night to ourselves, he's on that phone... Got some sort of sixth sense, I'm telling you.”_  
_“Let's hope not. Wouldn't do our careers much good if the old man turns out to be clairvoyant.”_  
_They pressed on in silence. The stiff line of Doyle's shoulders was the only thing that betrayed his frustration at having their evening interrupted._  
_“Next time,” said Bodie, as they neared Cowley's office, “We won't answer it.”_  
_“Next time,” said Doyle, “I'm disconnecting the bloody line.”_  
_[ Sixth Sense:scouringsandstone ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/9130540)_  
|  _Ray walked up to the desk and leaned down onto it so that he was face to face with Kate. "My Bodie doesn't take well to threats, do ya Bodie?... We don't take well to being separated either," Ray added._  
_"You're sick men," Kate said..."Obsessed with each other. It's toxic love. If you let me go now, I can help you. You would learn that real love isn't about possessiveness or fixation. You can't own another person."_  
_"Sure is fun trying though.. The thing you don't seem to understand, Doctor, is that we don't care what other people think. We belonged to each other from day one. Anyone else was just meaningless... a diversion, or a merely an extension of one of our rows...And you've threatened to take my other half away."_  
_Bodie made a tsking sound. "Stupid thing to do," Bodie agreed... "Real stupid."_  
_In that moment, Dr. Kate Ross realized that some things were a force of nature and one of them was whatever these men shared. Dark obsession or passionate love, it connected them in a way that no one could separate them truly._  
_[ Stop Breathing: Creed Cascade](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12388248)_  
|  _Bodie followed, idly watching the play of muscles in Doyle's shoulders and back as he walked, dropping his eyes lower and watching the curve of his arse, dark-denimed against the sandy path._  
_Doyle looked back to see where he'd got to, catching him, and Bodie grinned unrepentantly. "We are on holiday, you know," he said, with lazy defence._  
_"You do the same thing on the job... I could 'ave you for sexual harassment!"_  
_"Yeah. Good, innit?"_  
_"Berk," Doyle said again, but he was trying not to smile. "Come on, we've only got about an hour before it closes..."_  
_Bodie could take or leave the mysteries of archaeology, but wandering aimlessly in the sun beside Doyle was something he could manage on his worst days, so he shrugged and followed once more._  
_[ He Kindly Stopped For Me: Slantedlight](https://archiveofourown.org/works/2125752) _  
|  _"Promise me something."_  
_"Depends."_  
_Ray scowled at him, but it carried no heat. "Wait for me."_  
_"Wait for you?" Fear put a crack in Bodie's voice. "Where are you going?"_  
_Ray sidled closer to Bodie but did not touch him. Those changeable eyes were darker than Bodie could ever remember seeing them, drawing him further into an enchantment that now seemed years in the making yet still beyond his grasp._  
_"Not going anywhere without you. That's the promise I want. That when all this is over, one way or another, you'll be waiting."_  
_Bodie considered the request. Friendship for Doyle would always be there and required no special commitment. Ray was asking for more, but how much more?_  
_"Why wait at all?" Bodie couldn't see the logic of putting off something they both obviously wanted so badly. At least he knew he did--Ray's feelings on the subject were still a mystery. "We only have today, like everyone else."_  
_"But we're not like everyone else..."[ Boundless: Veronica](http://hatstand.slashcity.net/veronica/boundless.html)_  
|  _“What do you mean, there’s only one bed?”_  
_Doyle tried to ignore the fact he could feel his cheeks going red, and leaned in closer to the bored-looking hotel receptionist._  
_“Exactly what I told you, sir,” said ‘Wendy’, widening her blue-rimmed eyes for emphasis... “I’m sorry - you’ll only have to pay for a single, but that’s the best I can do: we’re fully booked.”_  
_She did look apologetic - and rather pretty, too - but Doyle was in no mood to notice. Of all the things he had thought about happening - had laughed at the thought of happening, and then dismissed them as being ridiculous and the products of an over-active imagination and excessive anxiety - he had never, ever in a million years expected this, the most obvious of cock-ups when holidaying with a man you occasionally fell into bed with._  
_Bodie, standing behind him with the bags at his feet, wasn’t saying anything at all, but Doyle could feel him watching. It was unnerving when he couldn’t see Bodie’s face - it was difficult enough to understand what he was thinking at the best of time, but near-impossible when Doyle couldn’t see his eyes...[ Blackpool and Rock:Ailcia ](http://discoveredinalj.livejournal.com/112810.html#comments)_  
|  _... how vulnerable he is standing next to his partner._  
_There’s a crackle of the needle on vinyl and then the slow rhythm that makes him want to dance. So he does._  
_"Get off!" They’re the first words either of them have spoken since he arrived._  
_He doesn’t, just curves his hand a bit further round Ray’s waist, pulling him in closer, swaying him, singing, joking "You do something to me ....You have the power to hypnotise me," he croons to the scowling face just inches away... Somehow he"s lost the mocking tone and his voice sinks to a murmur..._  
_He can't sing anymore, it can't be a joke anymore._  
_They sway in time with the easy rhythm, always in sync._  
_He thinks Ray must be able to feel the way his heart is slamming against his ribs..._  
_The song is slowing, drawing to a close and he doesn’t want it to stop. He feels Ray’s deep inhale against his palm where it rests just below that scar....Ray hasn’t pulled away..._  
_[ Somewhere between the bullets and tea, I fell in love: Carmenamatorium](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10572447)_  
|  _"He would have shot you," Doyle whispered. "He wasn't bluffing, I saw his hand move and I couldn't, I couldn't let him...."_  
_"I know. It's...it's all right." It wasn't, of course, and Doyle knew that as well as he did, but it felt wrong to thank him for killing Cowley, even if it had saved his life..._  
_"We'll have to go tonight," he said._  
_"What did I do, Bodie?" His voice was hoarse and strained..._  
_"Saved my life, didn't you?" he said roughly... "We'll manage...I need you with me, Ray. Don't fall apart on me, do you hear?"_  
_He pulled away and took a deep, shaky breath. "I'll come back with the bikes."_  
_"Take your time," Bodie said. "You'll draw attention if you rush..."_  
_They were on the ferry before dusk..._  
_[One Shot:Sarah K ](https://teaandswissroll.livejournal.com/231111.html)_  
| _God, but he liked being with Doyle. They worked well together, and in the quiet, with just the two of them, things seemed so right. Easy, most of the time. They had their differences, their arguments, but all in all, they got on well. And lately, Bodie had felt their relationship was changing, moving in a new direction, and he knew he welcomed it. Doyle could feel it as well. Bodie knew this because he'd seen the changes reflected on his partner's face. Seen the interest, and the affection. Doyle didn't try to hide it any more, and for that he was grateful. Bodie knew that Doyle's brush with life and death after the Kuolo disaster had changed him, and that his partner looked at him differently now, although Doyle hadn't really explained everything that he'd experienced while he was in that coma. But no matter, Bodie was ready. Finally. And tonight... Tonight, being with his partner felt good, great even. Calm and peaceful, in spite of the circumstances. He wondered what it was he was feeling, this idea that being with Doyle made him complete. And even as he wondered, he knew exactly was it was...[ One Night in Bangkok::LilyK ](http://hatstand.slashcity.net/lilyk/bangkok.html)_  
|  _"So much blood," Bodie whispered. "On that damn rug. In the ambulance. In the operating theatre. And you ..."_  
_"I know," Ray said again._  
_"I never told you." Bodie's throat felt full of broken glass. "I stood there, all of it in my head. Scared."_  
_"All the time," Ray said..._  
_"Worse. The worst..."_  
_"Bodie," he said gently, "you don't need to say it. I know. I see it on your face. In the way you watch my back. The way you make me laugh. You save me every day, Bodie. Don't say anything for me, I don't need it. But you looked like, like words were choking you."_  
_"Not words," Bodie got out._  
_[ Ray Knows:jat_sapphire ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18178700)_  
|  _"Never far apart, eh?”_  
_“That’s the rumour,” Doyle said quietly._  
_Bodie’s stomach was suddenly tight. “We’re the top team.”_  
_“We are. But…never give them ammunition, right?”_  
_Their eyes met and Bodie caught his breath. Doyle had understood his invitation, he was certain of it. He’d read him right—they’d read each other right. A familiar euphoria swept through him, the same emotion he felt, sometimes, in a firefight beside Doyle, when they each knew exactly what the other would do. He wanted to grab him, kiss him, join with that fire that would temper his steel. But he wouldn’t, they wouldn’t..._  
_[ Condition of Employment:PFL](https://archiveofourown.org/works/2407745)_  
|  _“There’ll be blue-birds over the white cliffs of Dover, tomorrow, just you wait and see.” Bodie softly sang the first lines of the 1942 Vera Lynn song._  
_Doyle answered with the second stanza. “There'll be love and laughter and peace ever after, tomorrow, when the world is free....”_  
_Bodie turned his head to face his partner. He smiled with delight that Doyle knew the same song..._  
_“We’d come here when I was a kid. It was just a place to run around. I like it much better now,” Doyle volunteered as he watched the cliffs grow smaller but longer._  
_“Saw them first time returning from France with army vehicles.” Bodie felt compelled to match Doyle’s confidence..._  
_It was odd to realise that with anyone but Doyle he wouldn’t even make the attempt to divulge any real information. But Doyle was different. He was his best mate, after all. Share and share alike._  
_[ The Things You Need Come Slow:KrisserCI5](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12356637)_  
|  _“An’ where’s yer shadow, then?” the landlord of the establishment inquired....."Yer mate, man, the curly-haired fellow that I see you chasin’ ‘round town with..."_  
_“Oh, you mean Doyle,” Bodie replied, looking disconcerted before he shrugged it off. “We just work together,” he explained…_  
_Bodie leaned on the bar thinking about the older man’s words, wondering why they gave him a sense of disquiet. He and Ray Doyle had been partnered for a year now... They were partners, sure, and they’d likely take a bullet for the other one, if absolutely necessary, but that was just the job. They had to be able to depend upon one another watching the other’s back. Had to be able to trust that they weren’t out there alone, or it wouldn’t work... But, ‘mate’? Nah, not that close. Never so close it would hurt if Doyle bought it one day. That was neither professional nor very smart. Their work was too risky to get that close._  
_Brooding, leaning an elbow on the bar, Bodie reflected over the past year... he thought of the time he’d been stabbed, and how Doyle had reacted. Damn, but those unshed tears in Doyle’s eyes had surprised... and touched him. He wasn’t used to anyone giving a damn what happened to him. Me and My Shadow: Arianna: Proslib CD _  
|  _“We’ve searched everywhere, Bodie. He’s not here.” Doyle wants to sob. He can hear the agents trooping past, back outside. No! He can’t die here. Not when Bodie’s so close. What if they leave? He guesses that he’ll have two days tops before he’ll die of thirst. Bodie won’t cope when he finds out that Doyle perished, trapped only a few feet from him. This can’t be happening. This won’t happen. Bodie!_  
_“Where else could he be?” Bodie is furious, his voice carrying clearly through to his partner._  
_He hears Cowley sigh, “Bodie… it could have been a trap all along. Doyle could be somewhere else or he could be dead.”_  
_No!_  
“No,” Bodie snaps the word, but Doyle catches the break in his voice. “No.”  
_“Come along, laddie.” The footsteps start to recede and Doyle hangs his head, frustrated tears burning in his eyes. Bodie!_  
_Doyle wishes that he and Bodie are really telepathic. He experiments, calling Bodie’s name over and over..._  
_[ Captive:Agent_Talis](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5983062)_  
|  _Doyle turned to frown at him, found him closer than he'd thought, and felt his heart catch. He was too tired to deal with this… But at least the slight anger had gone from Bodie's voice, if not the tension in his jaw, his neck, his bare shoulders - oh Christ… Outside danger over, he had to move away, had to get away from the older, more familiar danger within... his gaze kept straying to Bodie, lingered where it shouldn't, on the play of muscle and skin, on the way the line of his black trousers was so straight, so tight to his back, flowing downwards, outwards over… If only…_  
_If only he could... step up behind Bodie, put his hands on those shoulders and lean in… You're tense, he'd whisper, why don't we see what we can do about that..._  
_[ Windowpain:Slantedlight](https://archiveofourown.org/works/9480284)_  
|  _So as they walked down the corridor, side by side, away from Cowley's office and towards the lift, Doyle allowed himself to drift a little closer to his friend than normal. Briefly, their shoulders brushed against each other. Doyle supposed his senses must have been heightened by the action and terror of earlier, because he felt their mutual warmth, the hard muscle of Bodie's shoulder ..._  
_Doyle felt so close to Bodie then, that his heart beat faster and a strong feeling of affection came over him – no, deeper than affection. He felt the full force of their partnership: everything it meant. He'd walk through hell with Bodie if that was what it took to do their jobs, or anything, CI5 be damned. He'd do anything Bodie asked – and Bodie would do the same for him._  
_The benefits of relaxation Maddalia: Proslib CD _  
|  _The idea of being bound to the hip with Bodie had his adrenaline running high. Despite the constant nearness that would more than likely play havoc with his libido, he wouldn't relinquish Bodie's care to anyone else. "Take me arm."_  
_Bodie reached out and grasped Doyle just above the elbow. Without hesitation, he followed Doyle's lead, testament to the depth of his trust. _With a subtle shift of his head, he inhaled the comforting scent of his partner and a small smile passed his lips.__  
_"That's it," encouraged Doyle, guiding Bodie up the narrow pathway and toward the small landing that led into the building. "Three steps, mate."_  
_Bodie kept Doyle close, feeling his partner's movements that guided him past hidden obstacles. "You make a good guide dog," he teased._  
_"More like your watchdog," retorted Doyle..._  
_[Love Is Blind:Shorts](http://hatstand.slashcity.net/shorts/love.html)_  
|  _They wandered through the flat — each trying to look as if he weren’t following the other — opening drawers and cupboards, putting things away, making the flat their own._  
_Difficult, mused Bodie, watching Ray without letting Ray realise he was watching him. Any minute now Ray was going to ask him what the hell he thought he was doing. God alone knew what he’d answer. But every time he almost met Ray’s eyes, his own skidding hastily away, Ray seemed abruptly to be looking at something else. An unlikely feeling of hopefulness filled him. He closed his mouth firmly on a Handel Te Deum which kept trying to escape._  
_It was ludicrous, reflected Doyle, that he suddenly couldn’t keep his eyes off Bodie — and at the same time couldn’t bring himself to meet Bodie’s eyes. He rather thought Bodie might be watching him..._  
_[ Pigs Might Fly:Crone ](http://www.oblique-publications.net/archives/bdictumii/pigs.pdf)_  
|  _He took in a breath, blew it out and turned to Bodie. “Do you trust me?”_  
_“With my life,” Bodie answered instantly._  
_“Cheers. But do you trust me?” He tapped his chest._  
_Bodie was quiet for a moment. “Your judgment? Not bloody likely. To die for me. In a heartbeat.”_  
_“You can't have both! Either you do or you don't!” Doyle glared..._  
_“'Course I do. Pillock.”_  
_“All right then ... I'm going to defect.”_  
_Bodie wasn't sure he'd heard properly. “What?”_  
_“I'm going to defect!” Doyle said, his tone low and firm. “You do know what that means.”_  
_Bodie looked Doyle in the eye. “Yeah. It means you're going to get both of us killed. Or worse.”_  
_“Sounds like fun..."_  
_Bodie rolled his eyes. “You'll be the death of me yet.”_  
_“For better or worse?”_  
_[ I Will Follow You:LilyK ](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8158660)_  
| _So you see, that's where it started. I was working behind the bar at a cute pub in the posher end of Kensington. Kensington, of course, being composed purely of 'posh' and 'posher'. The clientele were, mostly, a genteel sort. Nice accents, business suits or twin set and pearls. The latter for the ladies, you understand. It wasn't that sort of place. We got one or two workmen and, well, we only ran them out if the regulars complained, business is business, after all. Then there was those two. Lookers, the pair of them. The shorter sported a mane of auburn curls which were so obviously not natural, and a pair of gorgeous green eyes. He also tended to wear very tight jeans, which always showed his best asset to good advantage. The other was dark and brooding. A regular Heathcliff. And his eyes. Oh, deepest blue and penetrating, as if he could see through to your very soul. They were both so very obviously dangerous young men.[ Matchmaker:m31andy:Discovered in Canon](https://discoveredinalj.livejournal.com/tag/fanoncanon)_


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